1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to protective guards, and, in particular, to protective guards for protecting catheter exit sites and other incision sites located in the vicinity of a patient's neck.
2. Description of the Related Art
Catheters are flexible tubes used for withdrawing fluids from or injecting fluids into a patient's body. For example, catheters can be used to introduce or withdraw fluids from a body cavity, duct, or vein, or artery. They are used for a variety of purposes and for differing time periods. Some catheters, such as hemodialysis catheters, are inserted into a patient's body through an incision site in or near the patient's neck or suclavion area. To prevent infection, the exit site must remain as sterile as possible. The need to protect the exit site from infection makes it difficult for a patient to bathe or otherwise go about his or her daily routine. For example, during showering, water can invade and infect the catheter exit site.
Heretofore, a hemodialysis or other central venous catheter exit sites could be protected only by covering it with a protective bandage and taping it in place. The bandage must be removed and discarded every time a catheter is used. The bandage application and removal processes are time consuming and cumbersome for the patient and/or his or her caregiver. The bandages also are often less than fully effective at preventing infection because water often seeps through them or between them and the patient's skin and enters the exit site. The protective bandage also limits the patient's mobility because it restricts the muscles surrounding the exit site.
The need therefore has arisen to provide an easy-to-use, waterproof, protective guard for a catheter incision site or other incision in or near the neck. The need has also arisen to provide a protective guard that covers the incision site to protect against infection, while at the same time, allowing the patient to, for example, bathe a large portion of his or her body. The need has also arisen to provide a protective guard that extends below the incision site far enough such that liquids do not splash upwardly and reach the catheter exit site.
It would also be desirable to provide an improved method of covering an incision site to protect it against infection while at the same time allowing for a patient to bathe and perform other functions.